dewa mata, tokyo

Still on the shinkansen, headed towards Hiroshima. It takes four-and-a-half hours from Tokyo, which is extremely impressive given that it is almost 1000km away (imagine a four-hour hour train ride to Byron? No, don't). We bought ourselves three Japan Rail (JR) passes before we left Sydney, which is an essential investment if you are coming to Japan. For example, we paid about $530 for a two-week pass and with this trip and our one back to Kyoto tomorrow, we will have just about spent that (for what it would normally cost a Japanese person). It is just about the only bargain you can get in this country (apart from polaroid film and digital cameras). I think that they offer JR passes to ryokosha (tourists) so that they can track where we go in the country, NJ and Hugh are less paranoid and say it's to promote tourism. I'll let you decide, but yeah, you should get yo'self a JR pass if you plan to travel anywhere out of the city you fly into.

The service is typically Japanese; amazing, A-number-one, top of the heap, etc. There are ladies with delicious food coming up and down the aisles every 15 minutes or so, the seats are like business class on a plane and the attendants are impeccably polite - whatever you need, they will do whatever they can to get it to you. They put those Virgin ("There is a serious side to the flight, but we're a joke") slags to shame. We are in a non-smoking carriage, due less to our consideration for NJ and more to our shitty Japanese (kitsu en sha wa?), so we just walked from carriage number 7 to number 16 for a ciggie. The train is belting along now and it is a smooth ride but walking in the opposite direction to a train going 350k's is a disconcerting experience. My knowledge of physics ends with its name, but physically, it does not feel good. The smoking carriage smells disgusting and we've decided it's going to be non-smoking all the way (with NJ in mind this time).

So, Wednesday in Tokyo. Hugh and I were planning a special date but Tamaki's friend Graham arrived in town (not that we minded, of course), so James, NJ, Graham and me and Huey set off for the Imperial Palace Gardens. Stunning. It was so good and much needed to get away from the city for a bit (while still being right in the middle of it), and even though there were stacks of (Japanese) tourists, it is a perfectly tended tranquil space that seems to stretch forever and we bought a map and wandered around for a few hours. It could only have been better if they let bikes in. After that we went to the Tokyo Contemporary Art Gallery on the other side of the park and spent another hour or so looking at a special exhibit to honour (it's all about honour here) the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of Japan's most famous artists, Leonard Fujito. Granted, he was an ex-pat who spent most of his life in France, but the Japanese are really proud of him - as they should be - his style was an amazing blend of European themes with intricate Japanese detail. I am starting to feel stupid writing this so I'll stop, but the only other thing I will say is, the gallery was absolutely crammed and more than a little claustrophobic. Graham - who is a Kiwi but lives in Paris - said if we're going to Europe, we better get used to it and I say poo to Europe and their crammy galleries. NJ made the excellent call that you'll never stand in a queue outside a gallery in Australia. Which is both cool and a bit of that ole cultural cringe thing. i promise i won't become one of those gaylords.

I just saw a lady wearing a pair of gold Coco Chanel sneakers... she found my laptop bag under her seat. They're both terrific and hideous, you can't look away. Gonna sign off now and try to get some sleep for the last few hours. I'll see you in Hiroshima after the Peace Museum.

Hope you have a good weekend, everyone. Also, can someone send me an email, as well as the comments. I AM interested in what's going on at home and you. I hope Mel and Kochie do time, cause they annoy the hell outta me, sanctimonious pricks.

xx

PS I don't have the photos from yesterday 'cause Huey left his laptop back in Toyko, so go to http://magicowboy.blogspot.com and have yourself a gay old time checking out the Gardens.

PHOTIES
* JR pass. it begins
* shinkansen, nozomi no. 27
* if there's a river in it, it's hiroshima, the view from our room in the aster plaza, $35 a night, opposite the peace park